Measurement of current variations for the estimation of software-related power consumption [embedded processing circuits]

A current measurement configuration for the estimation of the power consumption of processing systems is presented in this work. The problem addressed is to measure the variations of the power supply current of digital circuits (and especially of embedded processing circuits) and to calculate from these measurements the energy consumption variations associated with certain tasks performed by the system software. Accurate monitoring of the instantaneous variations of the power supply current provides the appropriate information for the estimation of the power consumption at different operating situations of the processor (core) and of the overall processing system, as well (consumption of peripheral units). The proposed instantaneous current measuring approach, along with the execution of special test programs for analysis of inter-instruction effects, is expected to provide clear information of the power behavior of single-chip processing systems for low-power applications.